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Create EXEs in Windows without installing extra software
You can turn your scripts and other code into executables in Windows without installing extra software. Windows XP has a built in tool called “IExpress Wizard” that does this for you. I will walk you...
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Instant Gratification for Regular Expression Writers
Here is a great tip for anyone who wants to practice their regular expression writing. Whether you are new to regular expressions and just want to play, or you are an old hand at regular expressions...
View ArticleConvert Many Word Documents to ASCII At Once
In a recent tip, we showed you how to convert a Microsoft Word document to plain ASCII text using a CygWin command called CATDOC. At the end of that article, we promised to show you how to do multiple...
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Create Windows Installers with InnoSetup, Free and Easy
Inno Setup is a tool for building Windows Installers (i.e. “setup.exe” programs). Inno Setup is FOSS (free open source software). It’s powerful and flexible; the learning curve is fairly gentle; and,...
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Book Review: “JavaScript Phrasebook” by Christian Wenz
Whether you are just starting out with JavaScript, or you have JavaScript experience and want more ideas and tips, this is the best twelve bucks you’ll ever spend. JavaScript Phrasebook by Christian...
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RegEx Pattern Matching on Dates
RegEx is a common abbreviation for “regular expression.” If you have had any exposure at all to regular expressions, then you may be under the impression that regular expressions are complicated and...
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Automatic Spelling Correction with SED
Perhaps a better title for this tip would have been, “Automatic Typographical Standards Compliance with SED”, but I wasn’t sure how to spell “Typographical” (just kidding). Let me explain what I’m...
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Debugging JavaScript with Firefox
Here are some miscellaneous tips for debugging HTML, CSS, and JavaScript in Mozilla Firefox. They include references to Firefox extensions (plug-ins) that you will need or want, as well as tips for...
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Quick Tip: Searching for Program Source Code
Students at the University of California Irvine are working on some new technology for understanding and categorizing source code. They’re using it to power two projects, a source code visualization...
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Dual Monitor Search-and-Rescue (Windows)
This tip is for anyone with a Windows laptop who has a second monitor on their desk and runs it in dual monitor mode (or is considering that). There are times when the laptop will be on the road, as...
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Review: DelphiForPHP Not Ready For Prime Time
DelphiForPHP is an integrated development environment (IDE) for PHP developers (i.e. a smart code editor with a built-in debugger). Yes, there are other PHP IDEs available (Zend, PHPEclipse and Eclipse...
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Quick Link: SQuirreL, an Agnostic SQL Client
SQuirreL SQL Client is a mature, open source, Java based, universal SQL Client — which means that it is a tool for exploring any SQL database. It doesn’t matter if the database is Oracle, Microsoft,...
View ArticleQuick Link: Local Web Servers
When it comes to hosting PHP on a local machine, there are almost as many options for making it happen as there are reasons for doing so. Perhaps you’d like to run an available PHP-based app for...
View ArticleBatch File Recap
We’ve posted a number of articles dealing with DOS batch files to date. Some articles were specifically about batch file writing, while others made good examples of what can be done with batch files. I...
View ArticlemusikCube: An MP3 Player You Can’t Outgrow
musikCube is an mp3 player for Windows with unlimited possibilities. For one thing, it was designed with a plug-in architecture, so it is infinitely extensible. For another, the smart playlists are SQL...
View ArticleForcing Browsers to Use Your Latest CSS/JavaScript (Despite the Cache)
For those of you who publish websites that utilize cascading stylesheets (*.css) and/or JavaScript (*.js), you may have run into this problem: You enhance your site by changing the HTML, the...
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Version Control – A Developer’s Best Friend
A version control system (“VCS”), or “change-tracking system,” keeps track of the files that belong to a development project in a systematic manner. Such files can include software source code,...
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Quick Link: CVSDude – Subversion in 10 Sec Flat
In Version Control – A Developer’s Best Friend, I touted the many benefits of using a version control system to keep track of all of the changes to all of the files in a project, as they are being...
View ArticleAutomatic Daily MySQL Backups
automysqlbackup.sh is a rock-solid Unix/Linux shell script that automatically makes daily backups of your MySQL database(s). It is available as an open source project on SourceForge, consisting of just...
View ArticlePHP Development with Eclipse PDT
Back in May, I wrote an article entitled, Review: DelphiForPHP Not Ready For Prime Time. It began, “DelphiForPHP is an integrated development environment (IDE) for PHP developers (i.e. a smart code...
View ArticleQuick Tip: Installing PHP on Vista
The other day I was trying to help an associate install Apache 2.2.6 (the httpd server) plus PHP 5.2.5 to run locally on a Vista box, but we kept having problems with error messages that said the PHP...
View ArticleQuick Link: Selenium for Testing Websites
I was recently asked, “Have you worked with any HTML automation testing tools that you feel good about recommending? I’ve worked with Winrunner. It was OK, but it had some quirks.” My answer was to...
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Building Mockups of Computer Programs
Whether you’re a user interface designer, a programmer, or even a customer just trying to convey what you want done, Basalmiq’s Mockup is the best tool I’ve found for mocking up what a screen or web...
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Quick Link: Linux Command Line Examples
A certain Ben Emson has blogged some great examples of putting BASH commands (Linux commands) to work. He calls them scripts, but really they’re recipes or snippets that you can include in your...
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